Resilient ball.



L. T. PETERSEN.

RESILIENT BALL.

APPLIGATION FILED MAY 25, 1914.

1,115,734. 1 Patented Nov. 3, 1914.

' UNITED STATES, PATENT 'oFFIoE.

\ LUDVIG r. PETERSEN, or YOUNGSTOWN, 01110.

RESILIENT BALL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application-filed May 25, 1914. Serial No. 840,928.

' Patented Nov. 3, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUDVIG T. PETERSEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county ,of Mahoning and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Resilient Balls; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the manufacture of resilient balls, but has reference more particularly to balls intended and adapted for use in playing the game of golf, or other games employing balls of like character; it has for an object that of producing balls of great strength and durability, a high degree of resiliency, true spherical form, uniformity and compactness of structure, accurate ballistic properties, and a confined internal homogeneous strain. V

A further object of the present invention is the production of plied or built-up coreless and resilient ball-bodies, having confining covers of tough resilient seamless and jointless material, capable of resisting and confining the expansive pressure, or homogeneous strain, of the within-contained ballbody, and capable also of instantly recovering normal spherical form after momentary l distortion caused by a blow from a golf club or otherwise.

Other objects and advantages will be ap-' parent to persons skilled in the art to which my invention relates.

The invention will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims following.

In the accompanying drawings which form part of this application for Letters Patent, corresponding numerals of reference designate like parts in the several views.

Figure 1 represents in side elevation my invention as applied to a golf ball, this figure being broken, away, or quartered, to

show in section the ball-body and its inclosing cover." Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the ball-body in the courseof winding, and Fig. 3 is also a perspective View showing a ball out in half for the purpose of illustratin the expansive properties inherent in the all-body when not confined by an outer cover. v

'In the outstart it should be understood that sheeted or calendered balata is stretchable but substantially inelastic, and that after beingstretohed if heated it will contract and become elastic.

In the manufacture of balls embodying my present invention it should also be understood that balata-gum is by preference the material employed as a base, but at the same time it should be understood that this invention is broad enough to include any substance or gums having like physical characteristics, and to all such I lay claim the same as if herein specified. In any event, however, there may be combined and impregnated with said basic material a suitable quantity of highly resilient particles 'or which are uniformly distributed through said basic material while in a semi-plastic condition during the process of kneading or calendering and thus intimately incorporated therein. The term balata therefore appearing hereinafter and. inthe claims of this application will be understood to include any substance, and possessing contractile qualities capablegof first being rendered latent by stretching, {then formed into sub,- stantially a spherical body, then heated to restore its latent contractile properties, and finally shaped under pressure into the desired form and surface configuration.

Reference being had to "the drawings and numerals thereon, .1 indicates a strip, strips or pieces, of sheeted balata having incorporated therein a. multiplicity of resilient particles of cured rubber 2, such strips having been cut from a calendered sheet transversely across the grain thereof. These strips it' has been discovered stretch freely in a direction at right angles to the grain, but are, practically non-stretchable with the grain. V

In carrying out my invention the strips 1 cleus 3 is thereupon rolled into one end of the first strip 1, and upon this as acenter is built a coreless ball from a succession of strips 1, or pieces, each preliminarily stretched and cumulatively applied until ap proximately the desired size and spherical form has been produced. This accomplished the ball-body, such as shown by Fig. 2, is subjected to a mild degree of heat, by any approved heat producing means, whereby the latent contractile qualities inherent in the previously stretched stripsQlire stimulated or restored, causing a radia 'nternal pressure, and rendering the ball as a whole peculiarly resilient and responsivein long drives, and yet comparatively dead to lightblows as in putting. This restoration of'the contractile properties of stretched balata is essential to the production of superior balls, but it is by no means necessary that it shall take place at the time and stage of manufacture above indicated, on the contrary the heating is equally effective, and in some instances more so, when applied at frequent intervals during the formation or Winding of the ball body.

The body 4 of my improved ball having been thus built up from strips 1 wound and overwound, crossed and recrossed as shown by Fig. 2 of the drawings, is next incased within an outer seamless resilient cover 5 of unitary structure made in like manner as the ball-body 4 from strips 1 applied and treated as aforesaid. In case of the cover 5, however, the balata employed should be refined to extract its naturally da k color and. prepare it for its final color' g, the

same beingtrue of gutta-percha or celluloid when used asan outer cover. The ball-body 4 and cover 5 having been thus plied up and shaped oversize into approximately spherical form is now placed in heated molds while yet semi-plastic and subjected to pressure, whichnot only insures a true spherical form, but causes the .ball to auto matically adjust its center of gravity to correspond exactly with its center of symmetry, and produces a suitable surface configuration such as the well known bramble design, which inthe present drawings is used merely as an example. In this condi-' tion the ball is thereupon allowed to cool slowly, and its coverto set, before removal from the mold. After cooling, the ball is removed and coated in the usual manner with white paint, celluloid varnish, or any of the usual coatings, care being taken to select a .coating material the vehicle of f which has an adhesiveor solvent affinity for'the material of which the ball cover is made. Acetpne is a solvent for some of the constituents of balata, so that any paint or varnish containing acetone will answer for a-balata cover, or for covers made of a ma terial which is a substitute for balata.

It will be noted that the cover 5 of my ball maybe made comparatively thin and still perform its intended functions, without detracting from the resiliency or life of the ball; because in the event of ru ture, which is extremely improbable, an practically impossible under ordinaryconditions, there is nothing contained within the ball-body which might spring outin a manner to ruin the ball or cause in ury to the eyes or person of a player. Moreover, if'worn through by long usage, covers constructed and applied as hereinbefore described may be readily reheated, re-formed and rendered practically as good as thosebf new balls.

It will be particularly noted that the degree of resiliency, as well as'the specific gravity of these balls is controlled by the charac er and quantity of small resilient particles or individual balls of cured rubber fial-lIltl'OdllCGd into the body of the balata for obviously the greater the amount of rubber the more resilient the completed ball, and

the weight of such balls is controlled to a nicety by the amount of'lead, zinc, or other metals introduced into the cured rubber particles 2 before vulcanizing.

It will also be noted that the strip, strips or pieces of stretched balata 1 employed in the manufacture of balls according to the present invention, may vary in width greatly from a mere thread to practically any desired width, and, indeed, it is within the spirit of this invention to construct balls. from a single sheet of balata containmg rubber particles as aforesaid, stretched. formed, heated, and finally shaped while semi-plastic by agency of heated molds.

It will be seen, upon reference to the claims following, that I do not'herein claim the method by which my improved balls are manufactured, for the 'reason that such method forms the subject matter for a separate application for Letters Patent filed by me simultaneously herewith.

The foregoing is a description of my-invention in its best form of embodiment at present known to me, but at the same time it shouldbe understood that I by no means limit myself to the particular arrangement and combination of elements set forth. On the contrary, various changes may be made, and equivalent materials employed without departing from the principle involve of utilizing balata, or other gums of the gutta group, .as a base, stretching same to first render their"conti 'actile properties latent, over-winding strips of this previously stretched material while cold and without.-

tension to form a ball, and heating, either at intervals after winding, or after practically all strips have been applied, to stimulate or restore the latent contractile qualities of the material thereby producing a cumulative internal. pressure. that a practical and highly efficient ball can Thus it will be observed' be produced even though the particles of cured rubber 2 hereinbefore specified, and

preferred, are omitted entirely.

Having thus described my present invention, what Iclaim and Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture a resilient desire to secure by viously stretched balata in which the conball made from 'overplied pieces of preing have been restored after they have been' applied.

2. As an article of manufacture a resilient ball-body made from overwound strips of previously stretched balata in which the contractile qualities rendered latent by stretching-have been restored subsequent to winding.

3. As an article of manufacture a resilient ball-body made from overwound strips of previously stretched balata in which the contractile qualities rendered latent by stretching have been restored subsequent to winding, in combination with an elastic cover for the ball. f

4; As an article of manufacture a resilient ball-body made from overwound strips of previously stretched balata in which the contractile qualities rendered latent by stretching havebeen restored subsequent to winding, in combination with an outer cover restraining the ball-body under tension.

5. As an article of manufacture a resilient ball-body made from overwound strips of previously stretched balata in which the contractile qualities rendered latent by stretching have been restored subsequent to.

winding, in combination with an outer cover of like material restraining the ball-body under tension.

6. -As an article of manufacture a resilient ball made from windings of previously stretched balata in which the latent contractile qualities have been restored by the action of heat after winding.

7. As an article of manufacture a resilient ball comprising a body formed of sheeted 'balata impregnated with particles of rubber in which balata the contractile qualities rendered latent by stretching have been restored subsequent to forming.

8, As an article. of manufacture a resilient LUDVIG T. PETERSEN.

,Witnesses:

r DARIUS H. MINSHULL,

Ton J. Mm. 

